Archive for the ‘Kpop’ Category

Okay, so this is basically a Sistar Alo Hello smushed into three and a half minutes (but with less bikinis)….AND I LOVE IT! OH MY GOD THEY’RE SO CUTE! ❤ And I like the sexy dancing in the sailor suits. The scenery in Hawaii is super beautiful, and I love how they wore outfits with lots of bright colors to complement the scenery. The vocals from Sistar are always good, since the girls have very mature, silky voices. They brightened up a bit for this cutesey song, but they didn’t change into completely different voices, so I’m happy with the song as well.

First Impressions aside, let’s go with the Pros and Cons of the video:

Pros:

*The clothes–again, SUPER CUTE. They all were either island or nautical themed, so it fit well with the overal MV

*The activities–they are your usual touristy things that you do in Hawaii, but it does establish that this is their first time, and it makes one feel like they are taking a well deserved vacation. Comparing it to Alo Hello again, they had all of the stuff that MM does when they’re in Hawaii. Surfing, cooking, eating, swimming in a pool, playing in the waves, lounging on the beach…yup. Very visually pleasing, and it looked like they were having a great time. The roller skating element was a nice surprise. ^–^

*The car scene–WE KNOW SISTAR IS SEXY. YOU DON’T NEED TO SHOVE IT IN OUR FACES IN EVERY SINGLE MV. Seriously. Also, it didn’t fit in with the rest of the MV. It was gratuitous fanservice. Also, that car looked like it was gonna break, and those girls don’t even weigh that much. Starship Entertainment, please don’t put your idols in danger.

*Wearing clothes over their swimsuits–I know that the video might get banned by the stupid censorship board if they didn’t, but wearing a shirt over a bikini in a pool in my opinion looks stupid. And you’re ruining that shirt with all of the chlorine in the water. Just put ’em in cute one pieces!

*The signs. “Help Me” and “What Should I Do” aren’t going to attract the type of people you want to ride with. I don’t think anybody would stop for the “What Should I Do” sign, and the “Help Me” would just attract creeps. Come on now. And WHY do they get on a school bus?

The whole package overall is very good, and I’m glad Sistar got to film somewhere fun.

So this is a new Kpop Girl Group called Crayon Pop. I was a bit skeptical of checking them out, worried that they would sound the same as most girl groups out today. But I was pleasantly surprised when this cool, jazzy sound hit my ears. The girls all have pleasant voices, and are also cute. The PV itself was very visually pleasing too. It starts out with a clip of “When you Wish Upon a Star” with the girls posting pictures into a scrap book. This PV is basically about the girls on vacation in Japan. You see them eating good food, shopping, and dancing on top of a bus in Osaka. You can see the Glico man in the background as well. This PV is a good example of how to still have a fun, engaging PV on a low budget. The PV ends as it starts with the clip of When You Wish Upon A Star, and this time, they close the scrapbook, as their vacation has ended.

Nothing too monumental, but it’s cute and refreshing.

I’ll do a full profile when I find out more about these girls, as they do look like a promising group. ^–^

INSTABIAS! This, ladies and gentlemen, is Lime. I’ll talk more about how awesome she is later. She is the Main Rapper, Main Vocalist, and Main Dancer in the group.

I find it funny that two of the members are wearing sneakers. It’s probably because they’re tall. XD

UGH so cute. This is Yoo Ara. She is the leader of Hello Venus. I thought she was the Maknae. Leaders aren’t usually this FREAKIN’ CUTE.

Okay, so the whole premise of this video is that the girls of Hello Venus are like cupids, helping guys to get dates. These poor guys have no idea what they’re doing. XD

This is Alice! She is a lead vocalist of the group. She is also the oldest in the group. She has a very pleasant voice, but WHY COULDN’T THEY BLEACH HER ROOTS? It bothers me.

The awkward moment when one of your members is injured and part of your dance looks wonky.

The shoulder rolling and knee popping are my favorite parts of the dance. ^–^

Boddeh rubbin’

*DEAD*

I also like this dance move. ^–^

*DOUBLE DEAD* This is Yoonjoo, she is a lead vocalist in the group. Poor baby injured her foot before their debut so she could only be in the non-dancing parts of the MV and sings backstage at their stage performances. She’s my 2nd fave. ❤ Love her nails too!

Aww. Another guy without a date.

This part of the dance is so wonky and fun. XD

This is Nara. She’s REALLY FUCKIN’ PRETTY. She is the face of the group, and a vocalist. She reminds me of Kim Tae Hee.

UGH U SO CUTE. Love her nails here too. XD

Y U SO PRECIOUS? And omg all the great manicures in this MV…

Poor guy. He doesn’t know how to talk to girls.

RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH! GO GET A DATE! *I have no idea what the signs say*

MY HEART CAN’T TAKE THE CUTENESS.

New dance scene and new outfits!

My aegyo will help you get a date!

Leader Yoo Ara has a better plan. Throw a Venus Party to get people together!

Nara gives an invitation to a creepy man in a car!

Aegyo AND invitations!

Alice protects the Ahjusshi. UNCLE FANS REJOICE!

Creepy car man watches Nara walk away.

*DAT ASS*

YAAAY! WE’RE GONNA GET GIRLS!

*TRIPLE DEAD*

Finally! This is Yooyoung. She’s the maknae of the group, a lead dancer, and a vocalist. She’s also super cute! ❤

Werk dat terribly damaged hair Alice, WERK IT.

RAP TIME

*QUADRUPLE DEAD*

Sexy.

Yooyoung uses Aegyo! It’s super effective!

AAAH! Not only have they bleached her hair, but they teased it as well. Poor girl. Go get a deep conditioning treatment.

Yoo Ara is one of those really naturally pretty girls…

DON’T YOU FLIRT WITH ME FROM BEHIND THE BALLOON! *DEAD TIMES FIVE*

Time for the Venus Party! Party outfiiiiits!

And look! NUES’T came!

Ahjusshi looks like he’s enjoying himself…

A couple is formed!

Mission Accomplished *nods*

I find it hard to believe that Po Pos would be jammin’ to this song…

End Pose!

PARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Watch the video:

Well that was fun!

On to the mini album!

1) Hello-This track has a lot of rock influence to it. It’s just over two minutes, so it serves as a good intro to the mini album. I do believe that this track was put in to show off the range that the group has, since the title track is so cutesey. The vocalists do a good job with what they are given, but the chorus is very monotonous to me and turns me off to the rest of the song since it comes up so much. The highlight of this track is really Lime’s rap. She sounds like such a badass here! She has a rich, chocolatey voice when she raps, so it provides a good blend with the harder edged track. Overall, this track is catchy, but it’s not something I would put on repeat.

3/5

2) Venus-This is the title track of the mini album. The song itself is cavity inducing, but at this point in their careers, this is what the girls as a group do best. The song may be similar to other songs on the market right now, but it is something simple that is done well. There are other girl groups who do the same type of stuff, but their performances and/or vocals fall flat, so it’s forgettable. Hello Venus has the right energy and vibe to pull the song off very well. Also, it gets stuck in your head VERY EASILY. The girls sing it very well and their voices blend well with one another. Lime’s rap was put in well with the song, you could tell it was fit for her skills and for the song, not just stuck in there so the rapper could have their 15 seconds.

5/5

3) 설레임 (Excitement)- I never thought a track called Excitement would be a ballad. That threw me off. Despite that, this is a beautiful song. It does sound like a ballad on an SNSD album, but I like those, so that doesn’t bother me much. The girls’ voices are BEAUTIFUL on this track. Not much else to say. Nicely done ladies.

5/5

4) Love Appeal-I don’t get the title, but whatever. This song is a CAR JAM. It’s something upbeat, fun, but not so sweet that it’ll give you cavities. The clapping bits in the chorus in it are cool, and it’s fun shouting “HEY BOY I’M NOT THAT KIND OF GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL” with the windows down.

Again, something simple done well.

5/5

This mini album was a good debut overall. It showed the group’s range and capabilities, and it fits in nicely with the Kpop market at the moment. I do hope that these girls do well.

The choreography was very polished and together, like most Kpop performances. I was a bit worried on how they would do with singing live, since they are a rookie group, but for the most part, the actually did sing live, and it sounded really good! Nara and Yooyoung did use back tracking, but they aren’t marketed as main vocalists so I’ll let it slide. Yoo Ara, Alice, and Lime though, did wonderfully with their singing.

ESPECIALLY LIME. SHE DID THE HIGH NOTES.

THE RAPPER SANG THE HIGH NOTES.

THE RAPPER SANG THE HIGH NOTES.

I’m floored.

Seriously.

Lime is AWESOME.

I’m glad that Pledis decided to not put their girls in boxes by their labels. Yes, they do have labels like every other Kpop group, but they each got to show off their talents in their debut stage. The only thing that would have made this better for me was if Yoonjoo got to participate. Her profile says she’s a classically trained singer, so I wanted to hear how she handled singing onstage. I guess I’ll have to wait until next time.

I’m very impressed with this group’s debut, and I can’t wait to see what they put out next!

Okay, y’all can obviously tell I love the MV. It’s really pretty and sparkly and girly, which is basically me. XD The song on the other hand, is really sassy and funky, and that’s how I like my music! These three fit really well together and their voices blend like CAKE. They all have very warm, powerful voices, so the three of them together was a good choice on SM’s part.

I mean, no matter who they put together, they were gonna sell well, since SONEs are a force to be reckoned with! But I’m glad they chose these three girls. They are all fabulous performers and they pulled off the song and MV well.

I love the steady beat the song has, it goes well with the clock theme.

I’m happy that the majority of the rap in this song isn’t in English, since that happens a lot with Kpop rappers in Japan.

Some of the rap wasn’t all that great though (boku no PU RA I DO…no bro…just no).

Kevin’s English lines in this song were grammatically correct! 8D Yay! I think I heard some incorrect stuff in the rap but it doesn’t bother me too much. While speaking on the subject of language, U-Kiss’s Japanese is quite good! I can understand everything clearly and it doesn’t sound too out of place.

And I didn’t hear any “Mordney Present” in this one either. Good move.

Opening Shot. I like how the ‘s’s’ in “U-Kiss” are ticking along with the clock. Very Clever.

The boys in a dark, foggy room with a giant clock in the back. I love their poses. It’s similar to the room in Neverland though. Just replace the fog with ice.

Room change! GAH sorry for the bar at the bottom. This was my first time taking screencaps. XD

While in this room, the boys all have pocket watches that they stare intensely at…the room is also dirty.

GAAAH ANOTHER BAR.

Awesome dance moves!!! This dance is super cool, and totally fits with the “tick tack” theme with all of their sharp, quick movements and isolations. U-Kiss has some of the best dances in Kpop in my opinion.

Kevin is so beautiful…

This guy has the most powerful voice in the group, but he makes a lot of derpy faces when he sings…

Another great dance move, good leg and shoulder isolations. I love the lighting here.

DERP.

This is an unfortunate haircut. Poor guy.

Hello Beautiful.

If SHINee’s Jonghyun and MBLAQ’s G.O. had a baby, it would be this guy.

SO PRETTY. T__________T

Outfit change! I like these better than the gray outfits. They remind me of the outfits from “Man Man Ha Ni.”

Another pocket watch appearance.

DERP FACE RAP TIME.

Bro finally got angry about his haircut…

I found this shot to be quite artsy.

Back into the dirty emo room, but this time IT’S RAINING GLITTER AAAAAHHH!

HNNGH. I need more of this guy in my life.

Back to the ticking ‘s’s’

Overall, I thought the PV was really cool and there was nothing out of place about it. The production value was great, the dance was strong, and the song is really enjoyable. Another great song and video from U-Kiss! I think it’s a good song to start off their Japanese promotions. I hope it sells well!

I highly recommend this single to any U-Kiss fan, or just a fan of boy groups in general. I’ll be grabbing this single off of iTunes when it comes out! (Since I’m a broke college student now, it’s hard for me to afford physical copies of J and Kpop).